The World Health Organization (WHO) data has stated that eight vaccine candidates have officially entered the clinical tests. The international organization also said that 110 other candidates are under process in various stages. Countries are striving towards finding a solution to coronavirus and funding their research team to find a solution as soon as possible.
According to the WHO data, the United States, China, and Germany are leading the clinical trials of finding a vaccine for COVID-19. While various countries are in various stages of clinical trials, US and China have even released tentative dates of release of the vaccine. The vaccine against COVID-19 can be administered as early as March 2021, said, Zhang Wenhong, Chinese health official.
Tentative deadline for vaccine by US, China
Coronaviruses including MERS and SARS have not seen reliable vaccines so far. If one of the vaccines under process is effective and progressing relatively fast, it should likely be available for use between March and June, next year, said Zhang Wenhong. He expressed his opinion while speaking to Global Times.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that a vaccine will be made available for use by the end of this year. "I think we'll have a vaccine by the end of the year," Trump said during the virtual town hall interview of Fox News.
Earlier reports had claimed that four vaccines being developed namely, Sinovac Biotech vaccine, Oxford University coronavirus vaccine, Moderna - RNA vaccine, and Pfizer- BNT162 vaccine were frontrunners in developing the first approved vaccine for COVID-19.
Coronavirus cases worldwide
Worldwide, the coronavirus cases have increased to 4,737,926 and 313,636 deaths have been reported as of May 17. The USA has the highest cases with 1,507,798 infected people and 90,113 deaths followed by Russia with 281,752 cases and 2,631 deaths; Spain with 277,719 cases and 27,650 deaths; the UK with 240,161 cases and 34,466 deaths and Brazil with 233,511 cases and 15,662 deaths reported so far. Italy has managed to slip to sixth place from the second after 224,760 cases and 31,763 deaths.
However, the WHO did not specify the eight vaccine candidates that are under clinical trials currently. It has specified that no vaccine has approved for COVID-19 yet, following reports of US President Donald Trump and now Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro vouching for Hydrochloroquine as the best remedy against COVID-19. WHO also warned people against using self-medication including garlic, lemon, alcohol, kalonji, etc and claiming that it can cure coronavirus infection.
